If Major League Baseball wants to get a 2020 season in, there still are a ton of details, both major and minor, that need to be sorted out.
The biggest, of course, surrounds when the regular season will get started and end, where teams will play, how many games, etc.
A number of plans have been discussed, including the most recent involving teams actually playing in their own home ballparks as opposed to everyone playing in Arizona and Florida, which was previously discussed.
Once those big details get sorted out, the league can then begin focusing on the smaller ones, including instant replay reviews.
It appears they have begun discussing what they will do about replay reviews in 2020, as according to Ben Walker of the Associated Press, the new deal with the umpires would get rid of replay for this season:
Replay reviews could vanish in Major League Baseball in 2020 as part of a deal with umpires that contemplates a possible “monastery setup” in which off-the-field movement is restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new agreement gives MLB the right to not use instant replays of umpires’ decisions during the 2020 season.
Considering players, umpires, staff members and everyone else involved in the broadcasts of games would likely have to keep themselves quarantined at all times other than when at the stadium, it makes sense to have the least amount of people as possible.
So for that reason, replay reviews may get the short end of the stick, which will be a big change considering about 50% of challenged calls have been overturned since reviews first began in 2014.
While it won’t be ideal, it is hard to see teams being opposed to banning replay reviews in 2020. Everyone is desperate to get some sort of season in and seem willing to do whatever it takes to do so. Even if it affects the game in a big way, having no reviews is better than not playing at all.
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